Initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled 184,000 for the week ended Dec. 4, the lowest going back to Sept. 6, 1969, which saw 182,000. Weekly jobless claims tumbled last week, reaching a fresh 52-year low as the U.S. jobs market climbs out of its pandemic-era hole, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Continuing claims, which run a week behind the headline number, increased 38,000 to just shy of 2 million. However, the four-week moving average for continuing claims, which irons out weekly volatility, dropped to 2.03 million, a decline of 54,250. Initial claims for unemployment insurance were expected to total 211,000 for the week ended Dec. 4, according to a Dow Jones economist survey.
